I know some days you will question your sanity, this life, and how you got here. But please know that even in your darkest hour, you are so bright and such an incredible human and mama.
Like many moms, I had a birth plan, but that plan went flying out the second story hospital window when the maternity unit team informed me that I had an infection commonly contracted by women in labor.
I felt like he took my birth experience and placed it into a tiny box to check. Sitting there, I felt like I had my birth plan taken from me. I was powerless and devastated—for months.
I try carrots; I try broth, chicken; spoonfuls of nut butters; toast; potatoes; beets. It doesn't matter. Every morning, I dry heave or throw up. There is only one cure: the end of this trimester.
I felt like going back to work meant the end of my time being my daughter's mom. In that way, it felt like her grandparents were going to become her new parents and I'd be chopped liver.
I will continue to cheer at each milestone we hit—when he learns to tie his shoes, when he masters how to make breakfast, when he starts to sleep in instead of waking up, begging us to play.
I have this simple message to pass along: You aren't an invincible superhero. You are something much more dazzling, tender, terrifying, and awe-inspiring. You are a human doing one of the most human things of all. Taking care of another.
